I have to say that I really really value (1) the clarity, simplicity and elegance of our board and (2) the fact that Buffistas care about grammar, spelling and punctuation.

There are a couple of different boards I am somewhat lurkerish at. (The MCRmy and Emilie Autumn forums are the ones that leap immediately to mind.) There's a reason I hardly post there. The constant lols! The rows of animated smileys in someone's post! The lack of any sort of content at all in most of the posts!

hyperventilates a bit

I was hoping it was mostly because a lot of the posters on those forums are, well, semi-socialized teens, but no. The other adults at those forums are just as bad.

It's even worse when the posting is "Thier ar Big Sores im my muoth lol."

Okay, THIS is an even better example of my lol-hate. WTF, man??? Why is that funny in any way, even if you're say, David Lynch?

When I see LOL being used, it's (most of the time) implying that people are laughing at their own jokes, which would be quite obnoxious if it were a F2F conversation.

Maybe excessive lol-ism is the textual equivalent of the people who have the unfortunate nervous habit of laughing after everything they say, no matter what it is. I know a LOT of people (mostly women, sadly) who do this. The laugh isn't because they consider themselves such wags, but because it's a nervous habit, or possibly ingrained self-denigration.

The laugh isn't because they consider themselves such wags, but because it's a nervous habit, or possibly ingrained self-denigration.

Yeah, this. It's not "I find this really funny", but "Don't yell at me!"

I have to admit, I still think good old-fashioned ASCII emoticons are kind of clever, but code that turns them into animated things wigs me out.

The rows of animated smileys in someone's post!

Animated smileys are so very deeply of the devil. Why does not everyone recognize this?

Why is that funny in any way, even if you're say, David Lynch?

I dunno, I could see Cronenberg finding it funny -- though, again, I couldn't see Cronenberg saying lol, typing lol, ore even allowing the letters l o l to pass through his brain in that order.

Yeah, this. It's not "I find this really funny", but "Don't yell at me!"

This is the person on the other side of the cube wall from me. I can predict, without fail, when that lol will sneak into the conversations she has.

I have to admit, I still think good old-fashioned ASCII emoticons are kind of clever, but code that turns them into animated things wigs me out.

In places that are not here, I am fine with old-fashioned ASCII emoticons. But the animated things! No, not even the fact that there are animated bat smiley things will sway me.

Tep and amych, that is an interesting idea. I have one friend who sprinkles her e-mails with rampant "lol"s that make little sense to me, but I am not out and about in the wild internets enough to see it much, so I thought it was just a personal tic of hers. I don't think of her as having the nervous laughter habit because that's not part of our conversational discourse, but it is a big part of how she talks to, for example, men.

The laugh isn't because they consider themselves such wags, but because it's a nervous habit, or possibly ingrained self-denigration.

"Please forgive me for daring to express myself, I am harmless, see?"

Though it's not as bad as people who will say simply anything because silence between people frightens them.

Though it's not as bad as people who will say simply anything because silence between people frightens them.

I've been trying to decide if these people are better or worse than the ones who talk constantly because they love the sound of their own bloviating (and they are always bloviators).

Maybe kill them all and let hell sort them out?